DFS Alerts

Bryce Harper out of the lineup for the second straight day

Bryce Harper will sit out again on Wednesday due to a knee contusion he suffered on Monday. Ben Revere is also out of the Nationals lineup, which provides Chris Heisey with an opportunity to lead off against LH Adam Morgan. The Phillies left-hander may be pitching to keep his rotation spot, as he’s been dreadful to start 2016 and has had considerable trouble with right-handed bats; he’s allowed a .369 wOBA to this point and owns a very weak 1.63 K/BB ratio which is nearly identical to his 1.57 HR/9 rate. He’s also allowing a hard-hit percentage of 38.8 to RH bats, so it doesn’t appear that he’s going to turn a corner in the near future. Heisey is a suitable punt play in any format atop the Nats lineup, while Jayson Werth (.488 wOBA, .371 ISO, 51.6 hard% vs. LHs in 2016), Ryan Zimmerman (.309 wOBA, .242 ISO, 37.0 hard%) and Anthony Rendon (.387 wOBA, .152 ISO, 40.7 hard%) are all perfectly suitable GPP targets. The Nationals are one of the more sneaky GPP stacks of the day.

Marlon Byrd suspended 162 games; Indians recalling Tyler Naquin to take his spot

Marlon Byrd has been suspended without pay for 162 games after testing positive for growth hormone, his second offense. Tyler Naquin is being recalled and is expected to take his spot in the lineup.

Danny Valencia draws great match up today as A's take on Twins

Vegas is expecting a fairly high scoring game today in Oakland as they have given it a run total of nine. Patrick Dean takes the mound for the Twins and the right-handed bats of the A’s, especially Danny Valencia and Khris Davis, have a very favorable match up against him as he is an unproven player (off to a great start) who had problems striking out batters in the minor leagues. The Twins face lefty Sean Manaea who has been hammered thus far this season (4.85 SIERA, .411 wOBA allowed to RH bats). Any of the top five (Nunez, Grossman, Dozier, Plouffe, Park) are good options going against him with Dozier the best of that group.

Felix Hernandez (calf) placed on the DL; James Paxton will start in his place tonight

The Mariners have placed Felix Hernandez on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right calf. They called up James Paxton from Triple-A and he will start in his place tonight against the Padres.

Cardinals enter with highest run total of day for non-Coors team

Vegas likes the Cards bats today as they have given them a run total of over five runs in their match up with Brewers SP Zach Davies who has a SIERA close to 4.50 over his last 14 starts with a below average 17% K rate. You really can’t go wrong targeting anyone in their lineup today but the top options are the Matt’s as in Carpenter, Holliday, and Adams. The Brewers face Jaime Garcia who is in line for a win and is the top SP option from the afternoon games outside of deGrom. He’s held hitter to under a .270 wOBA from both sides of the plate over the last two seasons so the Brewers bats can be avoided today. You can make an argument, however, to rostering the red-hot Jonathan Villar and perhaps Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy as contrarian plays.

Jacob deGrom has plus match up against White Sox this afternoon

Jacob deGrom hasn’t been elite this season as he enters today with a 4.22 SIERA and paltry (for him) 18.8% K rate but he gets a plus match up against the White Sox today (24th in wOBA, 25th in ISO against RHP this season) and has shown signs of turning it around of late – he’s the clear top option from the early games and trails only Max Scherzer if you’re looking at the all day slate. Mets bats are also viable options today as they face Miguel Gonzalez, a SP who gives up a lot of fly balls and home runs. He’s given up 28 homers the last two seasons and the top five (Granderson, Cabrera, Conforto, Walker, Loney) are all viable options today. Loney is particularly compelling at his minimum price tag batting fifth – he’s had some success against RHP over the course of his career (.339 career wOBA).

Yasiel Puig (hamstring) scratched on Tuesday

Yasiel Puig will not play tonight and Carl Crawford will replace him in the outfield. Yasmani Grandal will now bat 7th and Crawford will bat 8th.

Brandon Phillips (foot) scratched Tuesday

Brandon Phillips will not be playing tonight due to a sore foot and is considered day-to-day. Jordan Pacheco will take over at second base against his former team.

Santiago's high ERA matches his estimators, but Tigers have not hit LHP (84 wRC+)

Hector Santiago has a 4.58 ERA that matches his estimators this year with an 18.5 K% that’s dropped below average along with his usual rate of hard fly balls in the air (0.95 GB/FB, 32.5 Hard%). The Tigers were shut down by Chacin last night and for some reason don’t hit LHP well despite being stacked with RH bats. They have a middling run projection of 4.2 runs at fairly high costs in a pitchers park. This might be a spot to fade tonight with only Ian Kinsler (215 wRC, .302 ISO vs LHP) and Nick Castellanos (106 wRC+, .311 ISO vs LHP) keeping up their strong work against southpaws from last year. Miguel Cabrera is a strong candidate for major regression, but has been terrible vs LHP this year (58 wRC+, .027 ISO vs LHP) and has just an 11 wRC+ and 11.8 Hard% over the last week.

Reds with only a 4.63 run projection, even though they are playing at Coors Field

Even though the Reds finally exploded last night, Vegas currently has them with tied for the 3rd highest run projection of the night. The Reds have been one of the worst offenses this season but get the Coors bump again tonight. Zack Cozart is an affordable $3.6K on DraftKings and has a .190 ISO vs. RHP. Cozart also has a .247 wOBA, 47 wRC+ over the last week, making him too risky for cash games. Joey Votto (.370 wOBA, 129 wRC+ L7) is a left-handed bat we can use against Jon Gray. Votto is an affordable $4.3K and is actually discounted $400, even though he had a huge night last night. Gray is struggling against LHB this season (.325 wOBA) and has a 29.6 Hard-Soft% against them. We can also target Jay Bruce (.330 wOBA, 103 wRC+ L7) who has a .241 ISO vs. RHP. Adam Duvall has also been extremely hot over the past week (.583 wOBA, 271 wRC+) and deserves to be targetted in a Reds’ Stack.

Anibal Sanchez has allowed 40 HRs in 210.2 innings since last year

Anibal Sanchez has been a human launching pad with a 40 HRs allowed in 210.2 innings since the start of last season. His strikeout rate has now dipped below average for the season (19.8%) and he faces a team with just a 15.7 K% vs RHP tonight. Despite a decent park, this is not a great spot for him. Looking for batters with power, just Trout (171 wRC+, .286 ISO vs RHP since 2015) and Pujols (115 wRC+, .217 ISO vs RHP since 2015) have shown real power against RHP, though both are priced highly (Trout over $5K, Pujols over $4K). Counting just this year, Cliff Pennington has the next best ISO vs RHP (.146) in tonight’s lineup. As is often the case with this lineup, it seems like a Trout or nothing spot.

Rockies have top run projection (6.37) at home against a poor pitcher (Moscot)

Colorado is faces possibly the worst pitcher in play tonight in the best park, easily giving them the top run projection (6.37), nearly a run and a half above the 2nd best team (who are not their opponents by the way). The biggest concern here is weather (check Kevin Roth’s late update – he has this game at ORANGE/YELLOW), but considering it plays, Carlos Gonzalez (142 wRC+, .293 ISO vs RHP since last season) is a top bat tonight against a pitcher with a .357 wOBA against LHBs. Gonzalez hasn’t been as potent this season, but has a 301 wRC+ and 42.3 Hard% over the last week. Not as strong, but still top bats and even more expensive on FanDuel are Blackmon (108 wRC+, .174 ISO vs RHP since 2015) and Arenado (126 wRC+, .299 ISO vs RHP since 2015). Trevor Story (107 wRC+, .304 ISO vs RHP) appears a strong bat as well at a weak position in the 5th spot tonight, though he costs $5.5K on DraftKings. DJ LeMaiheu is not a good bat (88 wRC+, .106 ISO vs RHP), but is in a great spot for less than $4K tonight.

Cardinals are projected for 2nd highest run total (4.96) on a night with a Coors game

The top two spots are generally reserved for Coors field when it’s in play, but tonight, a combination of a weak hitting team in Colorado and the Cardinals in a great spot gives them the 2nd highest run projection tonight (4.96). Possible weather concerns in Colorado make this an even better offense to pivot towards tonight. Wiley Peralta has allowed batters from both the left and right side a wOBA above .375 and hard hit rate above 30% since last season. That fits perfectly into a St Louis lineup full of RHBs who hit RHP well, including Aledmys Diaz (152 wRC, .250 ISO vs RHP), Matt Holliday (130 wRC+, .186 ISO vs RHP since 2015), Stephen Piscotty (122 wRC+, .169 ISO vs RHP) and Randal Grichuk (130 wRC+, .268 ISO vs RHP since 2015). From the left hand side, Matt Carpenter (152 wRC+, .257 ISO vs RHP since 2015) is one of the top bats tonight. Matt Adams (154 wRC+, .239 ISO vs RHP this season) is having a nice bounce back year and is a strong First Base option for less than $4K. This is lineup DFS players should strongly consider a lot of exposure to tonight.

Kevin Roth’s updated weather report shows some risk at Coors & Wrigley Field. Check out the full details of Kevin Roth’s weather report here: https://rotogrinders.com/weather/mlb

Rays have a 25.9 K% vs RHP and Gee (9.4 SwStr% in May) costs just $4.8K on DraftKings

Dillon Gee allowed three HRs in Minnesota in his last start and would not be considered a good pitcher, but has respectably struck out 16 of 66 batters through four starts and does have a 9.4 SwStr% in May. The Rays have a 25.9 K% vs RHP and Gee costs just $4.8K on DraftKings if you’re in need of a punt in your 2nd pitcher slot. LHBs have pounded him for a .418 wOBA and 35.8 Hard% though, so we’re going to want to look at the three Tampa Bay is playing tonight. Corey Dickerson (113 wRC+, .294 ISO vs RHP this season) still bats 7th, but costs less than $4K and might still be their best LHB against RHP. Brad Miller (102 wRC+, .183 ISO vs RHP this season) is slightly more expensive, but gets the two hole and plays a more difficult position to roster in daily fantasy. Logan Morrison (71 wRC+, .079 ISO vs RHP this year) costs about the same and would be the hottest bat in the lineup (197 wRC+ over the last seven days).